With recent developments in multimedia devices such as personal computers for domestic use, information communication media such as CATV (community antenna television system), and mass storage information media such as CD and optical disk, the importance of digital information in which video, audio, and text data, or data for control and management are equally treated, has increased.
Digital information including video and audio information is supplied to general users at home, office and the like via communication and broadcasting media or recording media such as a disk. In order to meet needs of the users, many suppliers want to know how the digital information supplied are utilized (hereinafter referred to as utilization states).
When information is unilaterally supplied from the supplier to the users, the supplier can know the utilization states only by means like questionnaires. Hence, to perform `supply` and `management` as a system and to automatically collect the utilization states are suitable for grasping the utilization states efficiently and firmly and for performing a supply in which the utilization states are reflected. Hereinafter, such a management system according to a prior art will be described using figures.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of an information management system according to a prior art. As shown in the figure, this information management system comprises a supply unit 10, a terminal unit 20, and a management unit 50. The supply unit 10 supplies digital information, such as video information, audio information, video and audio information, and text data. In the terminal unit 20, the digital information supplied is operated and utilized by the user. The management unit 50 accumulates the contents of operations performed to the digital information in the terminal unit 20.
The supply unit 10 comprises a digital information generating means 100 for generating digital information, and an output means 101 for outputting the digital information. Reference numeral 30 designates a first transmission medium capable of transmitting digital information, and this is implemented by any of a radio wave medium such as satellite broadcasting or ground broadcasting, a cable such as CATV, and a packaged recording medium such as a disk.
The terminal unit 20 comprises a receiving means that receives the digital information, and an operating means 103 that accepts operations by the user, for example, user's selecting desired information from the received digital information, viewing and listening to the information, or copying the information. The terminal unit 20 further comprises a clock function 106 that provides the present time, a measuring means 104 that measures the operational contents of the operating means 103 with the time shown by the clock function 106, an operation storage means 107 that stores the measuring result, and a reporting means 105 that reports the measuring result to the management unit 50.
The management unit 50 comprises an accumulating means 108 that receives the measuring result from the terminal unit 20, and a total accumulated contents storage means 110 that receives the result of the accumulation from the accumulating means 108 and stores the result as accumulated contents. Reference numeral 40 designates a second transmission medium connecting the reporting means 105 in the terminal unit 20 with the accumulating means 108 in the management unit 50, and this is implemented by a communication line such as a telephone line.
A description is given of the operation of the system mentioned above, from formation of digital information to accumulation of utilization states of the digital information.
In the supply unit 10, the digital information generating means 100 generates digital information, and the output means 101 outputs the digital information through the transmission medium 30 to the terminal unit 20. When the digital information is received by the receiving means 102 in the terminal unit 20, the user can operate and use the digital information in the terminal unit 20.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the procedure of measuring the operational contents performed to the digital information, and reporting and accumulating the result of the measurement.
The user of the terminal unit 20 selects desired digital information and performs a desired operation to the digital information, for example, reproduction, viewing and listening, or recording, using the control means 103. In step 100 of FIG. 12, it is judged whether the user has operated the digital information. In step 101, when the digital information has been operated in step 100, the measuring means 104 obtains the operational content and the time shown by the clock function 106. In step 102, the operation storage means 107 stores the operational content and the time. For example, when the user has performed operations as shown in FIG. 13(a), the contents stored in the operation storage means 107 are as shown in FIG. 13(b). In step 103, it is judged whether or not the reporting means 105 is instructed to report the contents by the accumulating means 108 through the transmission medium 40. Until the instruction is made, the above-mentioned steps 100 to 103 are repeated.
When the instruction to report the contents is made in step 103, step 104 is executed, wherein the reporting means 105 reports the contents stored in the operation storage means 107 to the accumulating means 108. In step 105, the accumulating means 108 temporarily stores the contents in the total accumulated contents storage means 110 and then analyzes the accumulated contents.
As mentioned above, the contents of operations performed to the digital information (e.g. video information, audio information, video and audio information, and text data) supplied from the supply unit 10 and transmitted through the transmission medium 20 are reported to the accumulating means 108 in the management unit 50 by the reporting means 105, and finally, these contents are analyzed and managed.
In the information management system mentioned above, the operational contents of the operating means 103 and the time are uniformly measured by the measuring means 104 in the terminal unit 20 and reported to the accumulating means 108 in the management unit 50.
Since the accumulated operational contents are simply enumerated as shown in FIG. 13(b), when the user wants to extract a specific operation such as `copy`, the corresponding operational content is extracted after storing all of the measuring results in the total accumulate contents storage means 110 in the management unit 50. In this case, since a large quantity of data from plural terminal units are stored in the total accumulated contents storage means 110 as shown in FIG. 13(b), a mass storage means and much labor are required for analysis.
Furthermore, it is necessary to investigate the operational contents to be accumulated by checking the operating times of the operational contents with a digital information output time table, such as a program table. When a scheduled output time table or the like is changed in the supply unit 10, there is a possibility that such an investigation cannot be executed or that a problem occurs in propriety of findings.
Furthermore, when the user wants to change the digital information to be output according to the analysis result obtained in the management unit 50, the user must manually change the digital information in the supply unit 10 with reference to the analysis result. This work requires much labor and time.